What is WordPress? – An Introduction to the World’s Largest CMS

For those of you who have not yet become acquainted with WordPress, it can most easily be described as the world’s most popular CMS (content management system) used to build websites.

In Swedish, “content management system” translates to “innehållshanteringssystem,” but in Sweden, the international term is mainly used by both industry professionals and other webmasters. Content management systems are also found in other sectors, but for a webmaster, it is a tool that makes it easier to manage things like text, images, design, and various web functions – without the need to code yourself.

Thanks to the rise of CMS, and above all WordPress, significantly more individuals and businesses have had the chance to create their own blogs, webshops, and similar projects – something that has greatly contributed to a dramatic increase in online presence.

How many use WordPress?

Since the launch of WordPress on May 27, 2003, millions of webmasters and companies now use the CMS daily to manage their sites.
In numbers, we’re talking about roughly 75,000,000 properties, and according to a study by W3Techs.com conducted on April 10, 2019, 33.6% of all websites worldwide used WordPress at that time. This corresponded to over 60% of the CMS market, which undeniably makes WordPress the world leader in this context.

In second and third place among CMS are Joomla with 5.2% of the market and Drupal with 3.4%, but beyond these, there are many others that together account for the remaining 30.9%.

Why is WordPress so popular?

There are many different reasons behind WordPress’ success and popularity, which makes it difficult to pinpoint them all. As always, timing and luck play a crucial role, but other important factors include the fact that WordPress is Open Source-based and completely free to use.

Below, we’ve done our best to list the reasons we believe form the basis of WordPress’ enormous popularity:

1. WordPress is free to use.
2. WordPress is Open Source-based and continuously developed by thousands of developers worldwide.
3. WordPress is easy to understand and requires no coding knowledge.
4. It’s easy to achieve a stylish design thanks to the many available WordPress themes, a large number of which are free.
5. Many advanced functions are easy to implement thanks to the ability to download and install various plugins.
6. The widespread use of WordPress has led to countless guides of all kinds, which means you rarely get stuck.

Is WordPress SEO-friendly?

In addition to the above points, WordPress is also an SEO-friendly platform well recognized by Google and other search engines. A well-built WordPress site with high authority and good content really has no SEO limitations and can undoubtedly rank at the top of the most competitive search results. For those new to the field, this can be reassuring to know, helping to avoid unnecessary worries when choosing a platform.

However, to minimize the risk of potential SEO pitfalls, we recommend only choosing among well-known and highly regarded themes with good reviews that have been proven to work well for others. On top of this, you should also make sure to download Yoast, which is the most widely used SEO plugin for WordPress. Yoast comes in a free version with plenty to offer, including letting you adjust titles, meta descriptions, and URLs in a very smooth way.
For those of you planning to launch an online store, it’s also worth knowing about WooCommerce, which is the most popular e-commerce platform for WordPress. WooCommerce offers a wide range of possibilities, but you should read up more on what is actually provided to ensure it’s the right solution for you.

In conclusion – who is WordPress for?

For many people, WordPress has become the standard choice for both creating and managing their websites. The CMS is just as suitable for private individuals wanting to create and run their own blog without commercial interests as it is for companies aiming to drive direct sales through their site – and everything in between. WordPress is a platform for the future, one that is constantly evolving and holds a large enough market share to be, if not prioritized, then at least respected by both Google and other search engines. Simply put, WordPress is a safe choice for anyone who finds it difficult to decide which platform is best, without much risk of regretting the decision later on.